


The Last Best Hope

by alexcat



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Action/Adventure, Berlin (City), F/M, Love, One Night Stand, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Romance, Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-17 00:47:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16505969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/pseuds/alexcat
Summary: Steve and Natasha fall in love just before the world breaks.





	The Last Best Hope

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the Marvel Bang. I'd like to thank the lovely ladies who run that challenge. They've been great. I'd like to thank Greygerbil, who chose my story to do fanart for. Also Larry and Jaiden beta read this one for me.
> 
> Not for Tony/Pepper fans — you have been warned.

[](https://imgur.com/sIpqshM)

I.  
_Seeking to forget makes exile all the longer; the secret of redemption lies in remembrance._ ~ Richard von Weizsaecker

~

Steve Rogers was tired of running. He’d stayed here and there all over the world, making sure his friends were all safe. He seldom slept in the same bed for more than a week. He never used a phone other than burner ones, he never went anywhere without looking over his shoulder and he worried about Sam, Wanda and Vision all the time. 

He might have been better off if they’d left him in the damned ice!

He heard that there were terrorists out there using Chitauri weapons. He figured he and Sam could take them down. Or at least slow them down. He had to do something. He couldn’t sit in a dingy little room all the time and moon over what was and what wasn’t. 

Stark was an ass. Period. 

Well, no. He understood Stark, but he had to do what _he_ had to do as well. He was not going to let anyone hurt Bucky any more, if he could be fixed, and he believed with all his heart that T’Challa and his brilliant sister could help, if anyone could.

He wondered where Natasha was right now. He knew she’d run, too, after she’d allowed him and Bucky to escape. She’d also burned all her bridges. 

There was a small apartment in Berlin that he had been loaned on a sort of permanent basis by someone that T’Challa trusted. 

He decided to go there for a few days then find Sam and look into these terrorists. He could at least do some good while he was in hiding. 

*

Steve found it ironic that Berlin was his haven and hiding place. A lifetime ago, it had been the center of what Captain America fought to stop, and now, it was his salvation, the one place he could hide and regroup without looking over his shoulder so much. 

He liked walking and looking at the city. 

Founded sometime in the 13th century, Berlin was huge and old. Much of it had been laid to waste by Allied bombs during World War II. He’d read somewhere that it was the most bombed city in the world. He remembered Berlin in the 40s, remembered it as the home of the Third Reich. 

That was then. 

It was a bustling, beautiful city with so many things to do, even if one had limited funds. So much of the city’s old beauty had been rebuilt painstakingly over the years so that the only real traces of the destruction were the before and after photos he saw in the little shops all over the city. 

*

II.  
_I came in from the wilderness,_  
a creature void of form  
Come in, she said  
I'll give ya shelter from the storm ~ Bob Dylan

~

Natasha Romanov had to rebuild and rebrand herself. All (or most) of her dirty secrets and questionable past actions had come out. Everyone knew she was originally a Russian operative, that she’d been trained by the KGB. They knew the things she had done, but none of them understood why she’d done them or who she was. 

With the Avengers, no one had cared as long as she did her job and she did it very well. She’d grown to trust them and care for them. Clint was like family. Tony was Tony, but she cared deeply for him, too. And Steve. Damn him, he was her friend as well, maybe the one who meant the most to her. 

She sighed. 

Hong Kong had about worn thin. She’d be moving on soon. 

She picked up an English language paper and read the headline: Stark Industries Gala at a new building he’d just built here. 

She’d love to see Tony. She called a friend from her days as a ‘model’. Lauren Wong had been a model, too, and Lauren was actually an MI6 agent, now retired. If anyone ever actually retired. 

“Lauren, I want to go to the Gala put on by Stark tomorrow night. He’s supposed to be there.” 

“Didn’t you work for him?” 

“Yes, and I haven’t seen him in a long time.”

“David was invited, but you know how he is. He never wants to leave the house. You and I can go.” David was Lauren’s husband, a businessman turned true philanthropist. He spent his time figuring out who to give his money to.

“I need a disguise.”

“How much of one?”

“Something to make people not notice my face.”

“That bad? I have a dress that will do the job.” 

The dress was stunning. Lauren called it a mermaid dress because it was shaped like one. It was low in the front, low in the back and was split up high on her thigh. It was black and clung to every curve. Lauren paired it with a pair of fuck-me sandals and a long white wig. 

“You do understand that every man is going to stare at you?” 

“As long as they look at my tits and my legs, I’ll be fine,” Natasha answered with a grin.

Lauren laughed, “They’ll be tripping over their willies.” 

The Gala was crowded with all the right people. Natasha saw American politicians and even a few celebrities before she saw Tony. Her heart actually pounded when she saw him. It had been a while and she had to wonder how angry he still might be at her. 

Would he have her arrested? Would he ignore her? Maybe this had not been such a good idea. 

He saw her. 

“Natasha, is that you?” He whispered as he shook her hand then kissed her cheek in the impersonal way such things were done.

“Depends on whether you’re going to call security or not.”

“Not. I’m glad to see you. Let me make some excuses and we can go somewhere quieter.” 

He told the people he’d been talking to that something had come up and he’d be back soon. Tony liked to keep an apartment in all of his buildings. That way, he had everything he needed in the event of a crisis. And he had his own bed to sleep in, among other things.

As soon as they were in the elevator, he hugged her. “Are you all right? Don’t you know it’s dangerous to be here? How did you get in? Where have you been?”

She put up a finger to silence him. “I was in town and saw that you were here. I have friends with influence and I’ve been all over.” 

They reached the top floor, stepping out of the elevator and into the apartment. 

“Why did you take a chance like this?” He asked as she followed him into the large, perfectly modern, luxury penthouse. The view of Hong Kong at night alone made the apartment worth millions. 

She removed her shoes and sat on a stool at his bar. “Pour me a little vodka and I’ll tell you.”

“Have you heard from Rogers? I – well, what’s done is done, I guess. We still haven’t found a trace of Bruce, so he must still be somewhere. Have you seen Clint?” 

“Tony, stop talking for a minute and let me catch up.” She drank from the glass he’d poured. 

He poured himself a single malt scotch and looked expectantly at Natasha. 

“I was already here in Hong Kong. I wanted to see a familiar face. Yours.”

She continued, “I haven’t seen Steve. I’ve talked to him once. He moves a lot, like I do. The more I think about it, the madder I am at Bruce and his other guy! What fucking nerve! And yes, I have spent a little time with Clint and Laura. They and the kids are fine.”

“That’s some dress you’ve got on, Natasha. I can see damn near everything.” Tony didn’t hide his leer.

She grinned at him. “It’s all just wishful thinking, Tony.”

He looked at her breasts and she felt a little warmth at his gaze. 

“It clings very nicely,” he said as he lifted his glass in a toast. He looked at her for a very long moment, like he was trying to decide something. “Any chance of getting you out of it?” 

Natasha raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?” 

“Good god, yes, Romanov. Every man in the room stared at you when you walked up to me. They were all undressing you with their eyes.”

“Aren’t you engaged?” 

He sighed. “Not this week. Pepper says I still haven’t grown up at all.” 

“Have you?” 

“Maybe a little. A tiny bit.” He held up thumb and forefinger with maybe a quarter inch between them.

“That much?” She sipped her drink, in no hurry to end this strange encounter with Stark. 

He shrugged. “I try. Old habits are hard to break.” He opened his shirt to show her a crystal arc reactor on his chest. “This is what has her pissed off.”

“I thought you had it removed and your heart fixed?” 

“Oh, I did. But this will dress me in my armor quickly. Never know when something will happen.” 

“Does it come off?”

“Yeah, when I shower or other stuff.”

“Other stuff? You mean like you just proposed to do with me?” She was enjoying this. Stark was actually nervous and squirming a bit.

“Um, actually, yes, though I _can_ wear it when I – it doesn’t affect anything. I can still, uh - ”

She made up her mind. She did not want to be alone right now. She stood up and walked over to him, giving him the straps in the back to unfasten. “Hush and undo me.”

He unfastened the straps and uncrossed them. “Your skin is so smooth. Makes me want to touch -”

“So do it.” 

He ran his hand down her spine and rested it a second at the very bottom, where her dress began. 

“You have nothing under this dress.” 

“Not a thing but me.” 

He slipped his hands under the dress in the back and ran them all the way around to cup both her breasts in his hands. The top part of the dress fell away so she was naked from her hips up. He pulled her back against him and she could feel his erection against her butt. 

“If you’ll turn around, I’ll finish taking this dress off of you and then I really want to kiss you,” he murmured in her ear. 

She slowly turned to face him. He kissed her as the dress fell to the floor. He put his hands on her bottom and lifted her as she wrapped her legs around him. He moved them both to the sofa and deposited the now naked Natasha there. 

“Do you want this off?” He pointed to the arc reactor. “I’ll take it off if you want me to. Of course, if Earth is attacked I’d have to -”

“Take it off. I’m willing to take my chances for a few minutes. And Tony, take the rest off, too. And stop talking.” 

He didn’t stop talking though he did remove his jacket, shirt, pants and the rest. Then he removed the crystal device and set it on the coffee table. 

“Now come here,” she whispered and crooked her finger at him. 

He did, sitting beside her and pulling her into his embrace, kissing her quite thoroughly. 

“I always wondered what women saw in you besides money. Guess I’m about to find out.” 

He grinned and shrugged. 

She put her hands in his hair and guided him to her breasts. He kissed and licked then finally sucked one then the other while his hands caressed down the outside of her thighs and back up the inside. She opened her legs so his fingers could find what he sought and she whimpered when he did. He kissed her again. 

“I knew you were beautiful but I didn’t know you were this beautiful,” he whispered between kisses.

Natasha slipped her hand down Tony’s belly to touch him, wrapping her fingers around him. He pushed into her hand. She wanted him to feel what she did, the bare need he had awakened in her. She kept kissing him so he wouldn’t talk. 

She lay back and pulled him on top of her, guiding him to where she wanted him. It was fast and hurried but she needed him now and he seemed to need the same thing. 

“Oh, Natasha,” he growled against her cheek as he sank into her. He started to say something else when she put her finger over his lips. 

“Just fuck me, Tony.” He did. He finally stopped talking and looked into her eyes as he thrust into her again and again. She gripped his hips tightly, holding on as if she were afraid of him flying away. Perhaps she was. 

He would never be _the_ man she loved but she loved him nonetheless. He was someone who she knew would be there for her if she needed him. 

Like now. 

Pleasure built quickly, spilling over them both, one right after the other. He did not move from atop her for a few moments. He kissed her cheek, her lips then moved off of her, pulling her into his lap as he did. 

“Stay tonight. I – will you?” 

She thought about waiting until he was asleep and leaving without saying goodbye, but in the end, she stayed. She wanted to sleep in someone’s arms tonight, a friend’s arms. They were a rare thing in the world she lived in.

*

III. 

_“It's hard to believe in coincidence, but it's even harder to believe in anything else.” ~ John Green_

~

Almost every morning, after he’d eaten and had his run, Steve would go to a little coffee shop outside the Brandenburg Gate and watch people go by. It was always quite busy, but it had nice little tables outside. It was just across the way from the new American Embassy as well. 

This morning, he drank his coffee and watched some guy with a big, red umbrella try to sell tours to people visiting the Brandenburg Gate. The guy was there every day right in front of the coffee shop. He smiled at the tourists who mumbled about him ruining their photos with the ridiculously large umbrella. 

He was about to call Sam when he saw her coming down the street toward the coffee shop. 

Natasha Romanov. 

She was no longer a redhead, having icy, blond hair, cut short now, but it was Natasha. 

She ducked inside the coffee shop and came back out minutes later and sat down at his table. 

“I thought that was you. The hair and beard look great. Makes you look more dangerous.” 

“What are you doing here?” 

“Apparently I am hiding in plain sight.” He wondered if she knew how much she actually stood out in any crowd. He didn’t really think that hiding was possible for her. 

“Why? You signed the damned accords.”

“I also let you and Barnes go. Remember?” 

He nodded. “I thought for a second there that -”

“Oh, hell, no. You know better than that. I hop from here to there and back again, hiding, running. It’s the new normal, but it gets old pretty quickly.”

“It does. I hoped we had a home at headquarters once but that was not be, was it? Despite all, I get why he feels like he does. I still love the bastard.” They both knew he meant Stark. Their friendship had soured into a war over Barnes and the things he had done, things Stark couldn’t forgive, things Steve had not told him he knew. And Steve could not abandon Bucky to the US government. 

“I talk to him once in a while. I saw him recently.” She hoped he didn’t notice the slight blush when she mentioned seeing Tony. She decided not to tell him any more about that. It made her feel less abandoned when she’d been with Tony. She smiled to herself. Tony Stark truly never stopped talking. 

“Was he well?” 

“Yes, he was fine.” It was hard to stay neutral. “He and Pepper were on the outs again.” 

“He and Pepper are always on the outs. It’s their normal. So where are you staying?” 

She pointed to the Adlon Hotel. It was a beautiful old luxury hotel that had been featured in several books and movies over the years and was still quite a nice place to stay. 

“How did you rate that? I live in an apartment so small that I meet myself now and again. I must not be doing the on the run thing right.”

“I, um, am a Norwegian businessman’s piece on the side. At least until time for his bill to come in, then I’ll be gone. Poof!” She snapped her fingers. “I figure I’ve got a few weeks anyway.”

They both sat quietly for a few minutes. It was not a strained silence. Steve and Natasha had worked together quite a bit before the attack on New York, when they’d both been S.H.I.E.L.D. agents under Nick Fury. They were colleagues, and more importantly, they were friends. 

“I’m getting too old for this shit, Natasha.” 

“Language, Cap,” she said with a grin. She reached across the table and took his hand. “Me, too. I wish sometimes I had a life and a family like Clint does.”

“I think I’m too old for that. But you, you can still do it. I thought when I woke, and when I saw a whole new world, that it would be a different world but it isn’t. The names of the villains have changed, but that’s all.” 

“And settle down with whom? In case you hadn’t noticed, my boyfriend ran away without a trace in a Quinjet, of all things.”

“I’d have thought Tony would have found him by now.”

“He obviously doesn’t _want_ to be found,” she answered, still angry at Bruce.

Steve decided a change of subject would be a good idea. “Do you speak German?”

She grinned. “I do. Do you?”

“Nope. Well, a word or two but luckily, most Germans speak enough English for me to get by. I like it here. It’s a good city and big enough to be invisible in.”

“Aren’t you afraid of getting picked up on the cams this close to the embassy?” 

He pulled a ball cap from his pocket. “With the hat and beard, I’m a little harder to spot.” 

She squeezed his hand. “I hate to tell you this, but you stand out almost anywhere.”

He blushed at her compliment and wondered why it pleased him so much. Maybe it was just a reaction to being alone so long. 

“So where have you been hiding?” He asked her. 

“I spent some time in South America. And some time in London. I stayed a few months in Hong Kong with an old friend.” 

Steve raised an eyebrow.

“Not that kind of old friend. She was MI6 a long time ago. So, what do you do here?”

“I walk, ride my bike, read. Sometimes I play tourist.”

“Steve, honey, how are you not bored to tears?”

“Um, I am, I suppose. The tourist bit would be fun with someone to share it with though.”

“I can do that. I’ve always worked when I was here. You don’t see much when you’re kicking asses.” 

“I’ve seen the world that way, too. Quinjets, warehouses, evil hideaways. Oh, and war… can’t forget the war bit.” 

“But you did tour the US as Captain America pretending to punch Hitler!”

“Don’t remind me.” The whole Captain America promotional tour made him crazy to think about to this day.

She laughed and took a small photo out of her purse. She handed it to him. It was a black and white of him and several women dressed in costumes decorated with American flags. 

“Jesus!!! Where did you get this?” 

“Stark gave it to me a long time ago. I had actually forgotten it.”

“I look so young.”

“You looked exactly like that the first time I saw you.” 

“I’ve aged.” 

She patted his hand. “We all have, Cap. You still look pretty good to me.” 

He got up and threw his cup in the trash. “I have to be going. It was great to see you.” He started to go. 

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going, Rogers?” 

“I figured you have stuff to do and so -” 

“No, you don’t.”

“I need to check in with Sam. I use an endless supply of burners.” 

“Tony said you sent him a phone. Do you have that one?”

He patted his pocket. “I keep it with me always.” 

She took his arm. “So, take me to your hideout.” 

He laughed and they went to his tiny little apartment. It was a sort of one room deal, with a stove, fridge, bed, an old television and one chair. 

She grinned. “Wow! The Ritz. I’ll bet the chicks are dying to come to this groovy pad.” Her sixties references didn’t go over his head. Steve had spent a lot of time studying the years he was in the ice. 

He laughed and hunted a phone in the drawer. “Yes, and they really love that they have to go down the hall and wait for someone to vacate the bathroom to pee.”

He called Sam and they talked for several minutes, then Natasha chatted with Sam for a bit. After they hung up, Natasha asked, “Did he tell you about the Chitauri tech that they think some Chechens have?”

“Yep. Want to go remove it from them?” 

“You’ve done this before?”

“We’ve hit a couple of times. Can’t sit around and look at porn all the time.” 

Natasha laughed. “Oh, this we’ll get back to. Captain America and porn?” 

He grinned and shrugged. “I’m a guy.” 

*

IV.

 _Idleness is to the human mind like rust to iron._  
~ Ezra Cornell

~~

It turned out that the Chechens were meeting their seller in Berlin. Berlin was the center of a lot of illicit trade in many things, including weapons.

Sam met them outside the old rundown building where this deal was supposed to take place. None of them actually had any real weapons. Natasha did have her Widow Bites but Cap and Falcon were just two guys armed with knives. And their skills. Their mad skills. 

That did not deter them at all. At the last second, Wanda showed up with Vision in tow. Cap gave them all tiny com devices to wear in their ears and they all set off. Wanda was able to find the Chechens with her powers.

“Want me to mindfuck them?” she asked Steve. No one was actually sure how much power Wanda really had, and no one wanted to find out. 

He laughed. “Such a pretty image. Yes, that’s exactly what I want you to do.” 

Wanda’s powers were so strong that by the time they got into the building, the Chechens and the two men who were selling the tech were blithering idiots. One was begging the spiders to go away. One was crying for his mother and the third actually tried to eat his own gun right in front of them. 

“Maybe a little too fucked?” Wanda asked as they tied up the criminals, called the local police and a secret contact within Stark’s Avenger organization (one that would not rat them out to the oversight committee) to come get the tech. 

They all went to Steve’s tiny apartment after the job. Natasha called out for a bunch of pizzas and they drank a lot of beer. They were all innervated from the action and needed some decompression time. Vision couldn’t eat, but he was happy anywhere Wanda was. 

“So, Vision, doesn’t anyone watch you while you run off to see Wanda? Are we in danger?” Natasha asked him as she drank her fourth beer and ate her third piece of pizza. 

“I am seldom watched. Mr. Stark, I believe, knows I meet Wanda sometimes, but chooses to ignore it.”

“He might not ignore it when he hears about this,” Sam said. 

“I do not believe you to be in danger at this time,” Vision assured them. “There’s not much reason for him to know who captured these men.” 

“This is a really small place, Cap,” Sam laughed. “Can you lay down to sleep?”

“When my bed isn’t covered in people, yes.” 

They ate and laughed into the night, all still a bit keyed up. Eventually Wanda and Vision left and Sam left not long after. 

“I guess I should go, too,” Natasha said after she’d hugged and kissed Sam goodbye. 

“You can stay. The bed isn’t much big, but it’ll hold both of us. You can make a blanket barrier or something.” He didn’t want her to go, wanted a chance to talk to her some more. He spent way too much time alone and was very reluctant to see her gone.

She laughed at the idea. “I’m not afraid of you, Steve. I don’t think you’ll ravage me and I have no reputation to worry about.”

She helped clean up all the bottles and pizza boxes and scraps and put them in the trash outside. They went down the hall and waited for the bathroom. Natasha grinned as she went in before him. Once they were back in the room, he realized that he should have put on his sweats in the bathroom. 

“I can sleep in my clothes.” She seemed to read his mind. 

“You can wear one of my shirts. I won’t look.” Steve was ever the gentleman and didn’t look, but he seriously thought about it when he heard her zippers and the sounds of clothes rustling. 

“You can look now.” His t-shirt came halfway down her thighs and he could almost see through it in the lamplight. He tried not to stare and didn’t even notice her grin because he _was_ staring. 

They lay down in the narrow bed to sleep and even though they began facing away from one another, sometime in the night, they snuggled together. Natasha woke first and grinned at the rather hard part of Steve poking her in the back. She slipped out of the bed, slipped on her pants and went to the bathroom, making a bit of noise when she came back to wake him.

She popped back into the room and he was still under the covers though he was awake. “I’m going back to the hotel, Steve. You can get your shirt later. Coffee at 10:30?” She kissed his cheek and she was gone. 

They met at 10:30 at the coffee shop from the day before. 

“Good morning!” Steve was way more chipper than Natasha felt. She was a bit headachy from all the beer and she was sore from climbing fences and such to get to the old building last night. She’d already had a few cups of coffee in her room after she returned from Steve’s apartment. One more cup and she might be human. 

Might. 

“Why can’t you get drunk and feel lousy the next day like the rest of us?” she moaned as she sat down and grabbed the coffee he’d gotten for her. 

“I’m sore, if that helps.” 

“Pfft.” 

They drank quietly, enjoying the beauty of the day. There weren’t many people visiting the Gate yet and the coffee shop was in a mid-morning lull. Natasha moved her chair to the same side that Steve sat on and took his hand as she sipped her coffee. She even laid her head on his shoulder. 

“I’m really glad I saw you here. I’ve missed you, Steve.” 

“I miss everyone, especially you.” He put his arm around her shoulder and they sat there in companionable silence for a long while.

*

V.  
_In my afternoon walk I would fain forget all my morning occupations and my obligations to society._  
~ Henry David Thoreau

~~

Steve and Natasha fell into a routine, meeting in the morning for coffee, then they’d go sightseeing. Sometimes they just walked through neighborhoods and sometimes they visited historical sights and even a museum when they had the funds. Steve did odd jobs here and there for pocket change and Natasha wasn’t half bad as a pickpocket, though she didn’t tell Steve that part. She didn’t think he’d approve. 

“So, what’s on the agenda today?” Natasha plopped down beside him at their usual table. 

“Sam called last night. There’s a German arms merchant named Hendrik Braun, who is meeting to deliver what may be Chitauri tech to some white supremacist groups from the US. I have a location and possible time. Want to do it?”

“Hell yes! Sam coming in?” 

“Yep, though I don’t know about Wanda.” 

“Do we have any weapons?” It was not fun to go after an arms dealer without guns. Doable, yes. Easy, no. 

“There might be some stashed for us. Sam will know.” 

The meetup was the next day, so Natasha and Steve spent that day enjoying themselves. They ate currywurst at a little stand not far from their coffee shop. Steve laughed at Natasha for taking such huge bites.

“I’m starving. I didn’t eat this morning. You’re usually the pig!”

“I am a pig, but I don’t take bites too big to talk around.” 

She swallowed and took a long drink of her beer, looked at Steve and burped.  
“Ah, this is the life!” 

“More?” Steve asked as he got up from the outdoor table. 

“Sausage or beer?” She asked, her mouth still full.

“Either.” 

“Both!” 

Steve was back in a few minutes with more beer and they waited for their sausages to get done. 

“There’s a wonderful chocolate store with a giant chocolate Reichstag nearby,” Natasha told him. “Wanna go look at candy buildings?”

“Can we _eat_ candy too?” Steve grew up poor in the twenties and thirties when times were hard and candy was still a treat to him. 

“Yep. They have tons and tons.” 

So they went to the shop. It smelled like chocolate. There were all sorts of candies and cutesy things for tourists to buy. There was the miniature Reichstag and other buildings as well as a Berlin bear made entirely of chocolate. They held hands as they looked and leaned against one another often when they were talking about something. 

They got a few morsels for themselves and began their walking again. 

Natasha took a bite of one of her candies and made an appreciative “mmm” sound. “Want a taste?” She held it to his mouth. Watching him take a bite of the treat made her feel rather warm inside. She felt a moment of guilt for being disloyal to Bruce. She told herself that he’d left her. She didn’t want to examine what she was beginning to feel for Steve too closely yet. 

Steve seemed rather oblivious to the battle inside his friend, but his own feelings were not far from hers. She was so warm and soft, a side he’d seldom seen, but she was someone else’s girl, wasn’t she? 

They were a little tired by evening. 

And hungry again.

“We can dine on my rich boyfriend tonight.” 

“Not sure I have a thing to wear,” Steve quipped. 

“Ever hear of room service?” She grinned wickedly. 

“It’s a date. I probably should grab a shower. You don’t want dinner with a stinky man.” 

“I have a shower, your t-shirt I borrowed and you don’t need underwear to eat dinner.”

There was still a lot of old-fashioned about Steve. Wearing underwear was one of those things. He insisted they run by his apartment. He picked up some stuff and back to the Adlon they went. 

“The shower is yours,” she said as they got off the elevator and she opened the door. 

Steve was in the shower when he heard her come in. There was a glass door on the shower, made opaque only by the steam from the hot shower. She could see in better than he could see out. 

“I gotta pee,” Natasha told him cheerfully and did so. When she finished, she said, “If you need anything, let me know.” She went out and stuck her head back in. “Nice ass, by the way.” And the door closed again. 

Sometimes he felt way out his depth in this modern world. 

They had a simple dinner of roasted chicken with wild rice and a salad of fresh greens with a nice table wine. They talked a little about tomorrow’s mission and a lot about the past, without going into each one’s real traumas. He was a man who was, in reality, almost a hundred years old and she was a woman raised to be a killing machine. Yet here they were, almost whole and living as normal people in the real world. That was enough for now. 

“I should go.” Steve got up from the small table.

“Don’t. You can bunk here. The bed is huge and we can put a blanket barrier between us. I promise I won’t take advantage of you,” she quipped.

“Only if you promise,” he laughed but he did agree to stay. 

She disappeared to the bathroom and came out in sweatpants and a tank top. They did nothing to hide her beauty or her sexiness. He wasn’t aware that he stared until she spoke. “Honey, if a girl in sweatpants is hot to you, you might need to get out a little more.” 

She hopped into the bed and grinned at him. He stuck his tongue out at her. 

Steve slept in his underwear, though he was a little shy about letting her see him in them. They started out as they had before on separate sides but were snuggled close by morning. Natasha woke first and slipped out of bed for the bathroom. When she returned, a tousled and sleepy looking Steve sat on the side of the bed. He smiled when he saw her. 

“You look beautiful already,” he told her as he took his turn in the bathroom. 

When he got back, Natasha asked Steve when they were supposed to meet Sam. 

“Not until dark. We might as well take it easy. Things could be rough tonight. We haven’t heard from Wanda. It’s easier when she can screw with their heads, but the three of us should do okay without her.”

He continued, “Sam emailed me the layout of the buildings and a street map.”

“Steve, is Sam here in Berlin, too?” 

“I think he might be in the Netherlands. I don’t ask so I won’t know.” 

She nodded. “How much longer are you staying here?”

He looked at her and smiled, that dazzling smile that melted metal and made him the sweetheart of many American women. “Depends on how long you stay.” 

“Awww!” She punched him playfully and he grabbed her arm and pulled her close, kissing her quickly, then letting her go. “What was that for?” she asked him. 

“Your mouth has always begged to be kissed. I had to do it.”

“Will you do it again?”

He did, lingering a little longer this time. 

“No one could ever have convinced me that I’d enjoy kissing a ninety-eight year old man.” 

He laughed and kissed her one more time for good measure. 

*

VI.  
_The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting._  
~ Sun Tzu

~~

They met Sam about eight o’clock at their appointed rendezvous point. They were all dressed in black gear. They’d studied their blueprints and maps and had a plan. Sam had come with goodies. The plan without Wanda usually involved some fighting but this time, they had a gas that would render both sides unconscious without harming them. They’d have to wear gas masks themselves. They had side arms as backup, but shooting was messy as it could leave evidence. 

The only way it would work was to get close enough to toss the gas without being caught or noticed. 

Or to have a diversion.

Diversions were dangerous because things could go very wrong, if the targets did not react as planned and one could never tell about an opponent. 

A beautiful half-naked woman was usually a pretty sound diversion. Natasha would do that job, if they needed her. 

Off they went and they went silent. They could communicate in a rudimentary way by keying their mics. 

The arms dealer was there with his goons, only two of them though. Moments later five burly, bearded Americans showed up in a black rental van. The goons patted them down when they got out of their car and nodded to Braun. 

He opened the back of a panel truck and slid out several metal containers, the type weaponry was sometimes stored in. The Americans looked in the box and asked questions. Braun’s answers didn’t seem to satisfy one of them as he began to argue. The thugs moved closer to the truck, weapons at the ready. Their weapons were some sort of assault rifle, Ak-47s, Natasha thought. 

If the Americans weren’t armed, then they only had Braun and his men to worry about. Steve was pretty sure he could beat up an overweight neo-Nazi from the heartland. So could Sam and Natasha. 

He signaled Sam and Natasha to throw their canisters at the same time. They did but Braun’s men were fast. As soon as they heard the sound, they began spraying gunfire outward. The trio of heroes was not in any danger, ducking down behind concrete and steel walls but the gunfire made it impossible to enter the room without being in the line of fire. 

If they could keep them here long enough, the gas would do its job and they could call in the police to mop up. Braun was in the van in seconds and was barreling out of the building. There was not much they could do, or not much they should have done. While Sam and Natasha took care of the other seven, Steve jumped on the van and beat the window in with his weapon. Braun had not slowed even though he couldn’t see out around Steve, so Steve grabbed him and yanked him from the seat through the broken window. They rolled off of the van as it plowed into a wall and stopped. 

Braun hit the ground running but Steve’s superior strength stopped him dead in his tracks. Steve put some zip ties around his hands in the back and led him back to where the rest were all trussed up as well. They had gone down from the gas and were fairly easily restrained. 

They heard sirens in the distance and made themselves scarce, leaving the criminals to others to clean up. They had not taken off their gas masks so neither the American nor the Germans could identify them. 

They rendezvoused with Sam at a noisy bar a few hours later. Sam was waiting for them, already into his second or third beer. He held his glass up when they arrived. 

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you two are living together.”

Neither said anything, just exchanged a look. 

“Oh God! Really? No shit?” His grin was big and cheesy. 

“No, Sam. Not really,” Natasha told him as she ordered a beer for herself and for Steve. “We just have sleepovers sometimes.” She held up her hand. “Innocent, platonic sleepovers.”

Steve didn’t say a thing, but he wasn’t feeling very platonic toward Natasha anymore. He didn’t think she was him, either. But he would wait, for now, to see how things played out. He certainly didn’t want to risk their friendship if she wasn’t truly interested, nor did he want to scare her off before he knew one way or the other. 

“So anything new on the horizon?” Steve asked Sam. 

“No, but word has it Stark has been looking for Natasha.”

“Me?” Her heart pounded a little, not so much in fear, but she certainly remembered their night in Hong Kong. 

“I think he just wants to know that you’re okay.”

“Well, tell whoever told you that that Natasha says she’s fine.” 

Sam nodded. 

“You got a place to stay tonight? You can stay with me. I can stack you in corner somewhere,” Steve said.

“I have a ride back in an hour, but thanks,” Sam said to Steve. They all drank a few more rounds then Sam was gone. 

“You looked really strange when he mentioned Stark,” Steve said to Natasha as they walked home. 

“I was a little surprised. That’s all.” 

“Didn’t you say you’d seen him in Hong Kong just before you came here? Wouldn’t he know you’re okay?”

She knew her face colored but she was also sure Steve couldn’t see it in the streetlights. 

“Natasha?” He stopped her, worried that something was really wrong. 

“I sort of spent the night with him when I was in Hong Kong,” she said very quickly.

“Sort of?”

She stopped, annoyed with Tony, with Steve and with herself. How had this become so complicated? “We fucked! Do you need to know more than that?” 

It was Steve’s turn to blush. “I didn’t - I was afraid he’d done something to harm you. That’s what I meant.” 

“Tony wouldn’t hurt me. Not like that, anyway.” 

“No, he wouldn’t.”

“Do we have to talk about it?” She was clearly irritated. 

“No.” He was, too.

“You going to get jealous and pout?” She stopped in the street with her hands on her hips. 

“No?” He would have said that no matter what. He was pretty sure she’d smack him if he said otherwise.

“Good boy. Now let’s go home.” 

“Maybe I’d better -”

“I’ll hit you! You are staying with me tonight. Period.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

And that was the end of the discussion about Stark.

*

VII.  
_There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness._ ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

~~

He realized later that he already thought of her as something more than just his friend, Natasha. He’d been thinking that way for quite a while and by now, he suspected she felt the same way. She became a little distant after he found out about Stark, as if she expected him to be angry somehow. He _was_ a little jealous but she didn’t belong to him. 

He wanted her. Badly. But he wanted her to decide. He had to know she chose him. 

Several days after the mission, they were watching German television. “There’s a party I want to crash. Black tie. Will you come with me?” she asked, out of the blue.

“I literally have no clothes to wear.” 

“My Norwegian boyfriend will fix that. We’ll go to a men’s shop tomorrow.” 

They did and she bought him a nice, subdued suit that looked wonderful on him. They also got shoes, socks, the whole shooting match. She gave no hint at what she would wear. It was the dress she’d worn in Hong Kong. She certainly wasn’t going to tell him how Stark had peeled it off of her. 

She really hoped Steve would peel it off, too. 

She also didn’t tell him where exactly they were going. 

That evening, Natasha jumped in the shower after him and when he came out of the bathroom, he saw her dress laid out on the bed. It was black and cut very low in both the front and the back. It had a slit up one side that would go a long way up her shapely thigh. Her shoes were black, very high heels and little but a sole and some straps here and there. The only underwear he saw was a tiny black thong. 

He knew he was in trouble. Seeing her in that dress might just be his undoing. He couldn’t wait!

An hour later, they were ready for their cab. Her silver hair and the black dress were perfect. Steve was now completely sure that dress was going to be his undoing. 

The low neck and low back showed her soft curves and hinted at much, much more. The slit revealed enough of her long leg to entice him to want to see more of her, too. And her smile, had she always been so beautiful? He had no appetite for food at all. He wanted to keep her here, to see the dress in a puddle of fabric on the floor as he – 

He realized he was staring. 

“You like?” She twirled.

He cleared his throat, unsure of what would come out if he spoke. He finally nodded.

“Cat got your tongue?” She was enjoying his discomfort. 

The desk rang that their taxi had arrived. 

Natasha straightened his tie and smoothed down his hair a bit. They hurried downstairs and arrived at the US Embassy minutes later. 

“The US Embassy? Are you nuts?” She had balls. He’d give her that. 

“We’ll be fine. Just follow my lead. And don’t say anything unless you have to.”

She said something to the doorman, handed him a piece of paper, and spoke to the security personnel at the door; they passed through the metal detector and there they were. 

Steve saw some faces he’d seen before and many he didn’t. No one seemed to know him, luckily. Natasha acted as if she belonged so he followed her lead. They ate canapes and drank champagne, they danced to music that reminded Steve of his own time. She talked to people in languages he didn’t know and several old men kissed her hand and leered at her. After about an hour, she called a cab to take them somewhere else. 

She took him to a small, smoky club that featured music from the 40s. The table and booths were intimate and fairly isolated as they sat around a central dance floor. They ordered champagne again. This was not something Steve had done before either, but Natasha seemed completely at home here, too. 

When a slow song came on, she asked him to dance and they moved out to the dance floor. She melted into his arms. He was not much of a dancer but he could do this. Holding this exquisite woman in his arms was no hardship at all. He knew that he wasn’t drunk but he felt intoxicated with her. 

As they danced, Natasha leaned close and kissed him. It took a moment for him to react and kiss her back. But he did.

[](https://imgur.com/MtYL88C)

“Steve, we need to get out of here,” she whispered. “Now.”

“Yes,” was his only answer.

They finished the dance, made their way outside and hailed one of the taxis outside the club, waiting to take partiers back home. She gave the cabbie the address and she turned to Steve breathlessly. “Now, kiss me.” 

He did, kissing her deeply and hungrily. This had been building for days, this tension between them. She had become more than his friend, much more. 

The cab stopped and she paid the cabbie and grabbed his arm. “Hurry.”

They made it to the elevator in record time. Thankfully, it was empty. Natasha pushed Steve against the wall and pressed herself against him, kissing him again and again. She unzipped his trousers and slid her hand inside. She rubbed him through the thin cotton of the boxers he wore. She purred when he groaned aloud. 

When the doors opened, they almost ran to her room. She was quick with the key and suddenly, they were completely alone. She began with the tie and ripped at him until he wore only his boxers and a rather impressive erection. 

When she sank to her knees, still fully clothed, Steve said, “You know I’ll come as soon as you touch me, don’t you?”

She shrugged and yanked the boxers down. 

He watched her as she licked her lip then grinned up at him. Without touching him with her hands, she leaned close and kissed away the tiny drop of fluid about to drip from his penis before running her tongue over it. 

“Fuck!” He ground out. 

She slid her mouth slowly down the shaft until it was pressing the back of her throat. He watched, transfixed. He was afraid to move. It had been a long, long time since …

She closed her lips around him and slid her tongue along the bottom side, up and down the shaft. 

He was sure his knees wouldn’t hold him up much longer when she actually began to suck. No one had done this to him since sometime in the 1940s when he’d toured with the USO as Captain America. He tried to think of something to slow himself down but Natasha was not the least bit interested in slowing anything down. She put her hand around him and began to stroke him as she sucked. 

“Natasha.”

She paused, not stopping her hand’s movements and said, “Shall I stop now?” Her smile was pure evil. 

“God, no. Don’t ever - shit!” he said when she returned to what she’d been doing. 

The torture didn’t last much longer; neither did Steve. Natasha didn’t stop until he was completely spent and began to slide down the wall he’d been backed up against. 

She sat back on her haunches and grinned at him. 

“You’ve killed me,” he finally said. 

She busied herself with getting naked. Slowly, revealing a little at a time. She never took her eyes off of Steve as she did it. Finally, all she wore was the tiny black thong he’d seen on the bed while she showered. 

“You don’t look dead to me. A little used maybe, but that’ll pass.” She got on her hands and knees and crawled over to the bed, looking quite like a hungry tiger as she looked over her shoulder she asked, “What are you waiting for?”

She was on the bed by the time he was. She wiggled out of the thong and flung it at him with a smile. She moved her knees apart and put her hands on her thighs in invitation. “Your turn, Rogers.” Her voice went all soft and warm when she called him Rogers. 

He moved onto the bed between her open legs and looked down at her. She was smooth and soft, but there were scars, several scars. He knew that the woman who lay in front of him was a hardened warrior and a fierce opponent, but right now, she was Natasha, his best friend and the warmest, sexiest woman he’d ever seen. 

Perhaps she deserved a little torture, too, he thought wickedly. 

He began with the scar on her belly, where the Winter Soldier had shot her. He teased it with the tip of his tongue, tracing it and kissing it. She grabbed at him but he held both her wrists in one hand. 

“You know I can get loose?” 

“Do you want to?” He asked her as he licked at a small scar on the underside of her left breast.

“Not right now, no.” He kissed the little scar then moved to kiss her peaked nipple. 

”You’re so beautiful, Natasha.” He spent several moments driving her crazy with his teeth and tongue then he found another small scar. 

It was on her thigh. He kissed it as he held her legs open. He scooted down so he was between her legs. She raised her head and looked down at him. “What are you waiting for?” 

He didn’t wait any longer, opening her with his fingers and tasting her, flicking his tongue over her. He wondered if she could feel his smile. Natasha wiggled and moaned as he teased her. She lifted her hips off the bed, finally wrapping her legs around his head. “I could break your neck, you know,” she told him as she gave an extra squeeze. 

“But then I couldn’t do this.” 

He made enough room to slip his hand up from beneath and slide his fingers inside her. She grabbed his hair and rode him hard. If he’d been weaker or smaller, she _would_ have broken his neck. As it was, she cursed him in languages he didn’t understand and professed undying love in Russian before her orgasm swept her up and when she was done, she loosened her legs and looked down at her disheveled lover. 

“Did I hurt you?”

“Not yet.” 

“Are you recovered yet?” She arched an eyebrow at him. 

“Already? You’re insatiable.” He actually was ready, the serum probably getting much of the credit for his rapid recovery time.

“You might be right. Let’s find out.”

He rolled over and reached for her. “You’re up this time.” 

She straddled him and grinned. “Lazy ass.” 

She wiggled around on top of him until he was pressed against her. He lifted his hips as she moved and he was suddenly sheathed completely inside her. “Ohhhh,” was all he managed. 

“Sweet Steve,” she whispered as she moved slowly, languidly, riding him at a leisurely pace. She watched him, saw his beauty, how he’d aged since he was returned from the ice, the lines of care on his dear face. 

He put his hands on her waist, moved her faster. She let him set the pace, let him guide her with his hands. He arched up beneath her, meeting her. He scooted up to sit against the headboard with her still atop him. Steve put his arms around Natasha and pulled her close, kissing her as they seemed to melt into one another. Their singular pleasures had been intense but this, this was more. They looked into one another’s eyes, quiet except for their breathing and the mattress moving. His breath caught in his throat as Natasha sighed. It felt as if, instead of taking pleasure, they were creating a synergy that swept them both away, suddenly, completely. 

When it was done, neither of them spoke for a very long time, nor did they move. She lay against his chest, their bodies still entwined, still looking up into his eyes. 

“What just happened, Natasha?” Steve whispered in the near dark room.

“I don’t know. It – I - just hold me.”

He did.

*

VIII.  
_We are living on the brink of the apocalypse, but the world is asleep._ ~  
Joel C. Rosenberg

~~

Natasha and Steve stayed together. They fought alongside Sam to keep up with an underworld still scrambling to get their hands on alien technology. Very little got by the three of them, sometimes joined by Wanda and Vision.

Most of the time, the two of them got along and when they didn’t, their fights usually ended in a sweaty tangle of sheets. 

Steve was older and bitterness over the way the world was had creeped in along the edges but he still believed in right and wrong. In bed, in the safety of darkness, he and Natasha shared the darkness in their lives with one another. 

Steve had lost his mother as a boy and Bucky’s family had taken him in. He’d been abused because he was so small and weak. Bucky had watched out for him, taken care of him, beat the shit out of a lot of bullies. 

The fight with Stark had wounded him deeper than he had known. He mourned the loss of Stark as a friend, much more than he’d thought he would. He mourned the knowledge that Bucky had killed the Starks and he had no problem understanding where Stark stood. 

Natasha talked of the Red Room and her sterilization. She finally cried, the only time he remembered her crying. He held her all night, wishing that he could fix what had been done to her. 

One day, they were actually in Paris with Sam. They’d just finished a job and the French authorities had arrested a band of homegrown terrorists. 

The phone that he always kept in his pocket buzzed. He was startled, 

“Tony? Bruce. What is wrong?” 

He listened a few minutes then put the phone away. 

“Thanos, the one who sent Loki to New York, has attacked. Tony is gone on a spaceship somewhere.” 

“Bruce – Bruce is alive?” Natasha was incredulous. 

“It would seem so.” He looked stricken. She put a hand on his arm to reassure him. She wasn’t going anywhere. She and Steve were the opposite sides of the same coin, their light and darkness filling one another’s voids. Bruce had made his choice long ago as well.

“We have to go find Wanda and Vision then get to New York. We’ve got a job.” 

And so it began and it didn’t let up. They all went to Wakanda, to try to make things right finally, to rid the world of evil yet again. 

They had no reason to think it wouldn’t happen. 

They stood there over Vision’s body, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Rhodey, Thor and the little alien raccoon, and it dawned on Steve that they had lost and in so doing, half of the population of the galaxy was gone. Bucky. Sam. T’Challa. 

“Oh God…”

They stayed in Wakanda to help bury the dead, to try to make sense of it all. Steve hadn’t spoken a word for three days. He stared at walls, doors, anything that would excuse him from the things going on around him. He simply had disconnected as best he could. 

Natasha was having none of it and in bed on the third night, she told him so. “Look, we all hurt. You do not have the market cornered on pain.”

“It was my fault.”

“How? Are you stupid? It was not our fault. Evil won. We have to fight until we win, until we beat it back.”

“I’m not sure I can anymore.” 

“You can. We need you. I need you. If we can’t win, then, by god, we will die trying, not whimpering in some damned corner like a baby.” 

“All right. I can’t say no to you. Did you practice that part?” He finally smiled at her, a sad smile but still a smile. 

“As a matter of fact, I did. Now I want one more thing.” 

“What?” He asked her as she slid her hand under the blanket to touch him. 

“I’ve seen enough hate for now. Love me, Steve.”

He did, and it dulled his pain enough for him to go on. 

And on they went. They began to work on plans for what to do from here out. 

Shuri was a genius and she was also a new queen. She cared deeply for her people, for all people and made her nation’s great technology available to help what was left of the world to get back on its feet again. 

She sent out medicines and equipment all over, weapons to countries who she was sure would not use them on one another, technology to universities and governments who she trusted to use them well. 

Steve saw a strength in her, in Natasha, in many of the Wakandan warriors that gave rise to hope. 

*

IX.  
_It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop._  
~ Confucius

~~

They did not give up nor did they give in. No one had any illusions that they could fix anything. No one was certain if there was a fix. 

They all sat around talking, working on ideas, plans, hopes, fears. 

They were sore of heart and mind still, too close to their grief to understand the real depth of their losses. All of them but Steve. He knew. He had lost so many over the years. His heart ached for them all. But his heart ached even more for those who were left behind. 

Shuri took the lead. She was so young and full of fire that they all were happy to look to her for guidance. She addressed the room full of warriors and scientists alike. 

“We have no answers. We have only what is left. We must build on that. We have to look to our weaponry to protect us, to our science to find solutions if there are any and to our faith in whoever or whatever we believe in and in one another to sustain us. We must also hold onto one another with all of our might.

“We are the standard bearers of our world, our nations and our people and we must move forward.” 

Several days after the battle, Wakanda picked up a ship approaching from outside the solar system. Planetary defenses, such as they are, were alerted as they continued to track the ship. 

Steve was eating with Thor and Rocket when someone came for him. 

“Come to the communications center, sir.” The young man waited. 

“Now?”

“Yes, sir. We have an incoming message.”

He grabbed his drink and followed. 

Rhodey and Natasha were on headphones and Natasha handed him hers. He held the headset up to his ear. He recognized the voice immediately. 

“Do not shoot at us. This is Tony Stark. Do not shoot us!” 

“Can we communicate back?” He asked Natasha. 

“Not yet. They need to be closer.”

Tony was alive! He realized his heart was pounding in excitement and relief. Despite everything, he cared deeply for Stark. 

It would take about twelve hours for the ship to arrive, according to calculations. Everyone was on pins and needles, not knowing, other than Tony, what or who was on that ship. 

Steve and Natasha went for a walk in the city. “I’m glad he’s alive,” he said. 

“I think Shuri will chew him up, but she’ll like him, too.”

Steve laughed. “Stark will not like being bested by a teenager.” 

“Tony doesn’t like being bested by anyone.” 

“Like me?” 

“Oh, you were always an affront to his manhood, Steve. So handsome, so strong, so innocent and so good.”

“Not sure I’m any of them now.” 

“Shut up. You’re still all of them. Maybe not quite so innocent anymore.” She grinned as she said it and kissed his cheek sweetly. 

“That might be your fault.”

“You saying I’m a bad influence?” 

He pulled her to his side. “You’ve taught me things I didn’t even know people could do. I even like most of them.” Sometimes Natasha liked to experiment. Steve was always game. 

Tony’s ship finally arrived, escorted by a couple of Quinjets and four Wakandan interceptors. The fighters hovered while the small alien vessel landed. Tony came off first. When the troops on the ground saw Nebula behind him, they all raised their weapons. 

“Don’t fire. This is Nebula,” Tony said as he held up his hand to them all. “She’s Thanos’ adopted daughter and she has daddy issues.” 

Rocket called out from behind Thor. “Does she ever.”

Nebula stared, her face fierce and angry as it almost always was. 

“Stand down,” Steve commanded, followed by M’baku telling his people to stand down as well. 

Tony faltered at the bottom of the ramp and Steve rushed forward to catch him. Tony was pale and his eyes were unfocused. He whispered a line from Shakespeare. “No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve.” 

Steve lifted him into his arms and headed for Shuri’s medical wing. “Not today, you bastard,” Steve whispered back. “No one dies today.” 

Steve stayed with him while Shuri used her amazing technology to fix his wound. It had a slow bleed and would have killed him eventually. He had gripped Steve’s hand while she worked. Though the process was fast and left no scars, it was not painless, especially if the patient refused anesthesia. 

Tony was tougher than Steve would have thought, enduring without a word or complaint. He squeezed Steve’s hand so hard that a normal man would have had several broken bones. When it was over, he slept for several hours. Steve left him and reported to the others.

One of Shuri’s assistants came out. “He’s asking for you, Captain Rogers.” 

Steve sat down by the bed. Shuri insisted that Tony rest for the rest of the day. 

“Good to see you alive, Stark.” 

Tony took Steve’s hand and in a very quiet and dispassionate voice told him what happened on Titan, about all the others. When he got to the part about Peter Parker, his voice stayed cool and even, but Steve saw a tear slip out the corner of Stark’s eye. 

Steve kept Stark’s hand and told him what befell Earth. Sam, Wanda, Vision, Bucky. He sobbed the last name, though he tried to hold it back. 

“What are we gonna do, Cap?” 

Steve leaned close and touched his forehead to Tony’s. “We catch our breath and then we fight back until we are gone or Thanos is. Rest now, my friend. There is a lot to do and we need you with us.” 

He sat and watched Stark sleep. 

Natasha found them both asleep when she came to check on them. She smiled, pulled up Tony’s blanket and found another one and spread it over Steve, as he slept in the chair by the bed. She tiptoed out, careful not to wake them. They were the last, best hope of Earth.

**Author's Note:**

> I am adding these notes to make clear what is already stated in the story and to give a bit of canon as source material as well. 
> 
> Natasha was using a stolen credit card... as was made clear with the comments about the stay being over when the man whose card she was using got his bill and found out that someone was using it. Steve was staying in an apartment loaned to him from a friend of T'Challa's and Sam was staying with someone in the Netherlands. 
> 
> In a YA book published by Marvel as a tie-in to Infinity War, Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War: A Heroes Journey, we learn that Natasha, Sam and Steve ran ops all over hunting down Chitauri tech and chasing bad guys. They do mention being on the run in IW as well. They got money from somewhere... it's never really specified where in canon. 
> 
> There is fan speculation that Stark might have financed their ops.


End file.
